Ex-San Diego mayor Filner charged in sexual harassment case

SAN DIEGO — Bob Filner, who resigned as San Diego mayor amid sexual harassment accusations, was charged in a case brought by three women.

Filner was charged Tuesday in San Diego County Superior Court with one felony count of “false imprisonment by violence, fraud, menace and deceit,” as well as two misdemeanor counts of battery.

The victims were identified as Jane Does 1, 2 and 3.

Filner, 71, who is Jewish, resigned in August after the San Diego City Council unanimously approved a deal under which he agreed to leave office by Aug. 30 in exchange for the city agreeing to pay his legal expenses in a sexual harassment lawsuit brought by his former aide.

Some 19 women publicly accused Filner of acting inappropriately and sexually harassing them. He apologized to the city and the women who accused him of misconduct.

Filner was San Diego’s first Democratic mayor in two decades; he formerly was a 10-term congressman.